


dry throat

by orphan_account



Category: One Piece
Genre: Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, M/M, Other Additional Tags to Be Added
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-11-24
Updated: 2019-02-02
Packaged: 2019-08-28 21:07:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,772
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16730649
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: Zoro is a struggling alcoholic, that much is clear to anyone. His full-time job seems to be being the grumpiest man on Earth and Luffy, the new bartender at Zoro's favourite bar, is determined to change that. Too bad the guy hates his guts.





	1. all zoro wants is peace and quiet and he cant even get THAT.

“Budweiser, please. Gonna be here a while so keep toppin’ it up like always, Daz.” The man sat himself down onto the bar stool closest to the entrance, obviously over-exhausted and seemingly a regular. His haramaki had multiple stains, as did the rest of his clothes, making the man look all-around rough. This combined with his bold hair colour, piercings and glaring eyes made him relatively unapproachable to most of the general public.

“Uh, ‘kay! It’ll be up in a bit! Now, where’s the Budwe… whiz... Bud?” Zoro’s head shot up directly towards where the light, fluffy voiced individual was, and sure enough, behind the bar was a lanky-looking kid in place of where his usual barkeep was.

“Excuse me, kid, Where the fuck is Daz? God, are you even legal?” The kid in question had bent down by this point in search for Zoro’s’ request and was confusedly fumbling through various drinks that were certainly not beer-related, seemingly ignoring the green-haired man. Zoro then leaned over the bar, opening his mouth to repeat his questions when suddenly the kid bounced upwards, knocking his head straight into the others’ jaw and sending him backwards off of his bar stool.

“Oh, sorry! Didn’t see ya there, be more careful next time! Don’t you know customers aren’t meant to be behind bar?” It was official: this kid pissed Zoro off more than any being had in the past year within a mere 45 seconds of knowing him.

Rubbing his abused jaw and lifting himself off the ground, Zoro grumbled, “I didn’t even go behind bar, ya wacko… Anyway, I reiterate, where the fuck is Daz?” He emphasised the ‘where’ aspect by throwing both hands wildly around the room, showing that Daz was, indeed, not present.

“I’m the new bartender here! Name’s Luffy, your friend lets me work here weekends ‘cuz I know his old boss through my friend Robin. Honestly? Not a chill guy but I think he had the hots for me, so he got me a jo-” Luffy, as Zoro had learned his name to be, couldn’t finish his sentence because the older man had by then grabbed him by the collar.

“Enough fuckin’ around, kid. Just get me my drink and leave me alone.” He put Luffy down and sat back onto his original seat, although reluctantly, since all other seats away from the miniature bartender had been taken. Luffy, paying no mind to Zoro’s outburst, finally found the Budweiser beer tap and started pouring him a drink. Unfortunately for Zoro, Luffy had no idea how to create his perfect beer like Daz, and when receiving it he noticed it was far too frothy.

“For fucks sake… Whatever, just not as much foam next time. Jesus…” He began to down it but was highly aware of the bartender watching him intently. Zoro then pressed his jaw to the counter as it was still painful from the earlier impact and peered through the clear parts of his glass discreetly towards the other. Looking at him properly, Zoro noticed that he really did look far too young to be working in a place as raunchy as this, and that he seemed worried about something.

“Hey, how old are you?” Both looked blankly at each other after Zoro spoke, until the kid blinked and answered him with relative serious.

“Ah, I get asked that a lot. I’m 21 though, so don’t worry, I am legal… Don’t look at me like I’m weird for mentioning that, you’re the one who asked!” Zoro didn’t know whether him banging his head on the counter in response was real or imagined, but what he did know is he regretted inadvertently asking the kid a question as personal as ‘can you legally fuck yet?’.

“Okay, whatever, I’m done with this. Give me somethin’ harder. Your choice.” Zoro inwardly smirked. This would be the true test to see if this kid could continue to work there. If he picks some dumb shit, then he could just tell Daz that this new guy isn’t worth the hassle, and that even if his old boss and/or friend wanted to fuck him, that didn’t mean he should jeopardise his bar. Zoro then groaned, because he had actually listened to that kids dribble of overly personal information from before.

“Okay, here ya go! One limited edition J2O, just for you!”

Refusing to believe what the kid had just said, Zoro slowly turned his eyes down to what disgrace laid before him on the counter.

_Juice. Actual, real-life fucking juice._

 

* * *

 

 

“I’m telling ya, Daz! The kid isn’t worth it. If you need help, get someone else. He doesn’t know what he’s doing!” Zoro had been having this argument for the past 20 minutes and was near enough about to give up. The man in front of him was just refusing to listen.

“Younger workers take all the money they can get, and for Lu, that’s nothing. Why would I give that up? Right now, He only works afternoon shifts on the weekends, and honestly, it’s only the regulars who come in that time anyway! Just deal with the kid, Roronoa.” Daz turned his back on the green-haired man to wash some dishes, clearly believing the discussion was over.

“I’m sorry, who the Hell is ‘Lu’? You got nicknames for him now?” Zoro huffed and leaned his left cheek on his hand, not really expecting a response.

“Go home, Roronoa. It’s past closing time already, and I’ve let you hole up here long enough.” The barkeep, knowing he was hugely intoxicated by that point, helped Zoro out of his chair and out the door, watching him stagger towards his home that was a block from the bar.

 

The time was 10:52AM when Zoro woke up Monday morning of which he was both impressed and disappointed about. The former due to the fact he managed to wake up in the morning for once, and the latter due to the fact he had a job lined up for 10:45AM.

“Fuck, fuck, fuck! Franky’s definitely gonna kill me for this, it’s gonna take half an hour to even fucking get there…” Zoro mumbled whilst sorting through his dirty jeans, trying to find a pair not stained too irreparably. He finally settled on a pair of jeans as well as shoes, pulled on the white shirt from the day before, and left the house in a rush.

The 221 bus he had to catch ran late, which stressed him out even further. Pulling out his phone, Zoro dialled Franky’s work number and prayed he would answer.

After three dials, the other man responded, “And where the frick are you?” Zoro could hear the annoyance in his bosses’ voice, and he could tell he was in some deep shit. Everyone knew Franky only whipped out the ‘fricks’ and ‘flips’ when he was pissed.

“My bus is running late, sorry man. I’ll be there in… 20 minutes?” Franky hung up, saying ‘you better’ just before the dial tone rang in Zoro’s’ ear.

It was half past eleven when Zoro opened the mechanics’ shop door. He immediately got to work, the air between him and Franky getting increasingly tense.

“So, you went out to Daz's again last night, I see.” The younger man tensed at that, straightening up from his position of bending over the open hood of a customer’s car.

“Don’t lie about it, Robin’s friend works there. She said they met some really aggressive green dude. And honestly, I think there’s only one aggressive green dude in these parts. Zo-bro, I thought we talked about this! You need to get off that shit, man, it ain’t good for you and you know it!” As Franky looked over to Zoro, he could tell the other wasn't listening, instead opting to crack his knuckles to keep things less awkward. 

“It’s my life. Don’t bother stressing abo-”

“If it’s giving you health problems, if it’s causing you to be late to work, even if it’s just making you look like pure shit, then I’m gonna stress about it, Zoro!” Franky had stopped working at this point, staring so hard Zoro could feel holes burning into his back.

“I’ll be fine. ‘S a new kid bartending at the place I go to, anyway, so I’ll probably stop soon enough.” Zoro tactically chose to omit that the kid only worked afternoons on the weekend, and that he was most likely going to go drinking every other day of the week if his budget allowed it. But it seemed to shut Franky up, and the green haired man didn’t want to think nor argue too long on the topic anyway, so they worked in a bitter silence until the work day ended.

 

On Luffy’s end, things weren’t going much better. One week into his new job and his boss had already scolded him for a million different reasons, none of which made any sense to him. So what if the dishes he washed up were still dirty? It’s not like anyone really noticed, let alone cared. Maybe accidentally breaking five glasses in two afternoons was a bit much, but he was new! The boy didn’t let his mind dwell on his mistakes for long though, because immediately after exiting the bar, he smelt something _divine._

A quick trek following solely the instinct of his nose led him to a cafe, but to Luffy’s dismay, it was closing as soon as he arrived. Eyeing up the blond man closing the metal shutters, he made his move.

“Hey, blond guy! What time does this place open tomorrow?”

The man in question looked up, smoke in hand, clearly not in the mood to be dealing with some over-confident kid in sandals.

“5:30 for me, 7:30 for you.” He said swiftly, tossing his half-finished cigarette to the floor and stamping it out with the heel of his shoe. He then took a pack out of his blazer pocket and quickly lit another one.

Luffy, visibly confused by this, questioned him, “Why’d you do that,” the boy squinted at the mans’

name tag, “Sannnnnnn… ji?”

The newly named Sanji just looked at the kid, seemingly wondering if it was worth it to answer. Concluding it wasn’t, he sighed and turned away.

“See ya tomorrow, kid.”


	2. baratie? cool name bro

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> luffy goes to the cafe and makes f r i e n d s

Luffy woke up, dead on 6:30 AM. He was tired, he needed to piss, but most importantly, he was hungry. And he knew exactly where to go. After relieving himself in the bathroom and brushing his teeth, Luffy went straight to his coat rack on the first floor. It being mid-winter, Luffy dressed in a long parka (pyjamas still on), slipped his sandals on, and shot out the door. The café was around a 20-minute walk, of which became a half-an-hour walk since he slipped on his sandals about 15 times when running. 

At 7:03 AM, Luffy found himself out of breath in front of the café. Metal shutters were up, but the café sign told his it was apparently ‘closed.’

“Closed, shmosed…” Luffy mumbled, “Coulda swore he said 5:30…” There was only one sensible thing to do in that situation, Luffy thought. And that was to shout for him. Preparing for the attack he was about to perform on any listeners' ears, he then took a deep, deep breath.

“SAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANNNNNNNNN……. JIIIIIIII!!!!!!!!!! IT’S ME!!!” At the same time, he banged on the glass door of the shop with both of his fists together. He kept this up for approximately 2 and a half minutes until the exasperated blond came running at the door, of whom signalled him to stop instantly.

“Now,” Luffy nodded, “What the hell do you think you’re doing.” The blond man said it more as a statement (read: threat) than a question, but Luffy decided it best to answer regardless.

“Your sign said the shop was closed, but yesterday you said this place was open from like, half five! And, I’m hungry.”

“Pal. Bud. Kid. Now, listen closely, I said it was open for me at that time. Gives you no right to come barging into my business! You’re half an hour early- Get outta there! Wh- Hey!“ The younger man had, by this point, to literally barge into his business. 

Sanji ran after the intruder, who had then sat himself promptly down at the table closest to the kitchen. Sighing, the man then understood what he was dealing with. A fucking _idiot_.

  
“Half an hour’s nothing! What do you have on the menu today- actually, screw it, you pick! Just make sure It’s got meat, thanks...” There the boy sat, at Sanjis’ beautifully decorated tables.

Ignoring him.

Picking his nose.

Demanding food.

And what did Sanji do? He followed the kids’ orders. Something about the boy made Sanji want to please him, though he wasn’t sure exactly what it was. The chef pondered as he went to the kitchen, planning out exactly what he would cook for the younger in the other room. In the end, after about a 15-minute wait, Sanji came back out holding a plate of quiche. The chef was taken aback immediately after seeing the kid again: his eyes were as big as dinner plates.

"Is that potato? It looks so cool! It smells so good, too~ I knew you’d making something coo- is that bacon I smell?” This kid went a mile a minute, and Sanji cringed to both hear and look at him. Way too over-excited for a hazy Monday morning.

“Haha, yeah, it’s just a quiche. Eggs, it’s good for ya. Sorry I had to bring it out, the other employees aren’t here yet seeing as you came early.” He laid the plate in front of the boy, who seemingly became a vacuum as when Sanji looked back down, the plate was practically licked clean.

“Um, question. Why is this child in here early, and why are you actually serving him?”Both of their heads whipped round to see who had spoken, and as he recognised who was at the door, Sanji’s heart melted and his legs became jelly.

“My darling, beautiful Nami! Is Vivi here yet, or no? I took the liberty of setting all the tables so you two didn’t have to work yourself before the day even started! And- oh, this kid? He got confused and came early, barged in like he owned the place and I just-“

“And you just decided to cook for him anyway? He ought to pay us extra for the trouble. You!” Luffy, who seemed to be in a daze during the conversation, perked up again as the orange haired girl pointed her painted index finger towards him.

“Me?” She nodded, and then stopped for a second. A second became 10 seconds, as both Luffy and Sanji watched her face turn into pure horror.

“You don’t have money on you, do you.” She stated, voice quivering with either fear or anger, Luffy couldn’t tell. The younger man checked himself up and down, until he finally looked up at Nami once more, grinning sheepishly.

“Um, no, looks like I forgot this morning, whoops! ‘M wearing my P-Js right now, so there wasn’t anywhere to put money in anyway. Sorry…” Nami raced towards Luffy at that point, grabbing his cheek and pulling him out his seat and towards the open door.

“Come back with some cash - _with tips_ \- then don’t come back again! I don’t take kindly to non-paying customers; this business is hard you know!” And with that, she had pushed him out the door, huffed and walked towards the backroom behind the café counter. Luffy stood there for a moment, wondering how much he would need to pay them back, when the cook from before opened the door once more.

“Okay. Nami’s right, this business is hard. And dying. Customers don’t really come like they used to, especially ones’ like you. So, here’s a deal. You bring some customers in, and I’ll let you come back whenever you want. Capiche?” The blond man looked towards him after lighting his cigarette, leaning against the door next to Luffy.

“Yeah, sure! Ha, you’re funny, y’know. Thought you’d be more mad.” The man chuckled, nodding once and pulling open the door again. He then stopped, breathing out a puff of smoke of which Luffy thought couldn’t be sanitary for a café of all places.

“What’s your name again? Don’t think I caught it, sorry.”

“It’s Luffy, Monkey D,” he ignored the blonds' stifled laugh, “and you’re Sanji. Guess we’re friends now, huh! Anyway, I’m gonna go get your money now, so wait up!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> jesus sorry this took too longer... college is a Little BIt Much rn but i have half of chap 3 written soooooo  
> idnt rly like how the later half of this chapter came out but ykno whoops

**Author's Note:**

> hello!!! ive been thinking about this kind of AU for a while, but its my first time writing something properly so critique is appreciated ^^
> 
> UPDATE (jan 19th): im writing both the new chapters now ;) kinda had writers block for a while but i think its chill now


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